What might be the problem with my silkies?

[LilPeeps]

Quote:
I find my hens eat more and fill up faster on the pellets , infact , they DO NOT cae much for crumb type .

Now , when I do feed my pellets the grower feed , hens PIG out on that too . LOL PLENTY of protein . !!! BUT laying pellets are a MUST .

I'm wondering what the previous owner fed because I know that since I feed all my birds (including the silkies) crumble, they don't recognize the pellets as food. Also, back when I did feed them pellets, many had a hard time swallowing them.

 

[bantymum]

Yep, mine are the same, they really will not eat the large pellets that the standards will.
Mine get a wonderful scratch mix which has assorted seeds and nutrition supplements in it.
I also give lots of lettuce and they also love canary seed, millet! easy to eat.

 

[Chickfever]

Um, I move them around because they are in a tractor and between them and the other tractor I have in the area, if I don't move them, they have no grass after a few hours. I thought you were supposed to move tractors around??

 

[Chickfever]

Quote:
I usually get the scratch mix for mine, my farm store has been out for a little while and the other place went out of business. I always give lettuce from my garden and they get millet as a weekend treat. These are treated the same as the other new chickens I got around the same time and the others are doing great. That's why I asked the question why the silkies weren't doing so hot. All the others I've ever gotten that weren't chicks have adjusted within days, not months.

 

[Chickfever]

Quote:
No clue what they fed. By the looks of these when I got them, not much. They were really thin when I bought them.

I always feed my chickens fresh lettuce, corn that we don't eat, watermelon, and other different things we might have here they will eat. I do the silkies the same.

They are in a tractor, thus the moving. I've only been moving them about the last 2 weeks anyway now that I think about it. And they hadn't laid before then either.

 

[Chickfever]

Quote:
Actually, this is the third time I've bought from a flea market and I've gotten burned the other two times. The first time, one of the chicks had coccidiosis (sp?) and killed the other 5 chicks I bought that day. When I told the guy the next week, he said "Yeah, I knew it had it, I just didn't want them dying at my house". It would have been nice if he had told me beforehand.

The second time, I bought 5 6 month old hens from a guy. They were all severely dehydrated when I got them and they died the next morning (I had them checked).

I won't repeat myself about the moving, it's in the 2 posts above. As for the feed, same thing, they've been on scratch mix but not for the past week or so.

Quote:
I do buy the biggest ones they have and 2 or 3 at that. I assume they ran out this time because of the other store closing....



Quote:
This was my guess but thought I'd post to see what everyone else thought. Now I'm sort of sorry I ever even posted a question.

 

[bantymum]

Chickfever wrote: Now I'm sort of sorry I ever even posted a question

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Im sorry that you feel bad.
Please dont worry about some answers you may get, never take it personally, some people come across the wrong way, especially in forums.
You were good enough to ask the question because you care for them.
Ive always had a great assortment of replies to my posts, some of them were really narky, but that happens with no ill intentions im sure.

I hope that they settle for you.
Perhaps they have NEVER been in a tractor.
Silkies are a nervous breed compared to the others.
Perhaps if you can make them up a stable run somewhere they will settle.
Hope this helps
Hugs.

 

[bantymum]

Quote:
" haircut " ????????

Definately, !!!!!!Many a stressed Silky has been healed after having the crop chopped around from their eyes.
We have had this discussion before on here.
You can even do a mowhawk for a funky silky look.
But of course only if you DONT show.
There is proof in MY yard that after a haircut they will not bump into things anymore

 

[tadkerson]

Chick Fever,

Tractor feeding is fine as long as you move the tractor to a new area as you said you are doing. Corn is about 6-9% protein and the protein level in grass varies but bugs and worms are around 75% protein so your birds should be getting the protein they need. About half of the calories your birds need should come from the corn and other grains in the scratch.

The important thing about grass is that the birds have access to new growth on the grass. New growth grass has a much higher nutrient value (vitamins) etc.

Your other birds are healthy and laying eggs so the diet and living conditions should not be a problem. In the science world, your other birds are called a control. The control tells you that the conditions are ok.

I would give the birds more time to lay.

It does not hurt to check your birds on a regular basis for internal and external parasites. Birds that eat insects will pick up internal parasites (round worms). The insects contain the eggs of roundworms. The roundworms hatch in the chickens intestine and take up residence inside your chicken.

If the birds have a bad infection you will see the worms in the feces. I check the droppings where they roost. My birds free range and I have to worm them every so often. Worms are not a sign of improper care but a sign of the type of diet- parasites go hand in hand with pasture feeding.

Here is a site that has lots of information on feeding chickens.

http://www.ansci.umn.edu/poultry/resources/nutrition.htm#general

I like these articles.

http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/avian/feedingchickens.pdf

http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/livestock/poultry/pdf/bba01s20.pdf


Tim

 

[Chickfever]

Quote:
I really appreciate this post. Yesterday I felt like some of the posts were insinuating I didn't care for my chickens or that I was taking proper steps to take care of them. I do, I have a very healthy mixed flock of free rangers that do great and are great egg producers, thus my concern over the silkies. I feed layer pellets and scratch mix (usually this), I just didn't have access to any last week.

I'll check for worms this afternoon when I can get someone here to watch my darlings while I check so that I don't have little helpers and I'll read up on those sites.

Thanks and hopefully they'll perk up and be okay

!